GE exec Immelt visits Lynn plant

LYNN – On his first ever visit to Lynn, GE’s top executive Tuesday got an up-close view of what he considers one of the company’s key strengths – a state-of-the-industry aircraft engine factory housed in a cluster of century-old buildings.Jeff Immelt arrived by helicopter and spent part of the morning on the newly-renovated shop floor where the legendary F414 jet engines are constructed to power the Navy’s FA/18 Hornet fighter plane. He shook hands and listened to what employees had to say, then headed for the test cell – basically a concrete and steel bunker – where an F414 engine was ablaze with raw power.Dressed casually in a pullover sweater, the chairman and chief executive officer sat at the control console and grasped the joystick. In seconds he was laughing like a 10-year-old, pushing the stick to increase the engine thrust. Flames and heat vapor shooting from the engine’s afterburner were visible on the video monitors above the control panel.Paul Tudor, a facilities manager at the River Works plant, explained that the test simultaneously measures hundreds of parameters, such as temperature, oil, vibration and fuel flow.The relatively lightweight engine consumes 6 thousand gallons of aviation fuel per hour and is arguably the world’s most highly ranked military fighter engine, just as the T700 engine that powers the Apache helicopter – also made in Lynn – is considered equally dependable.”The best compliment we ever got was from a helicopter combat pilot in Iraq,” said Tudor, noting the T700 engines have logged more than 200,000 flight hours without incident. “The pilot said his engine pages (data screens) are not even in front of him when he flies. If people are shooting at him, he has other things to worry about, so he has his avionics and weaponry screens in front of him. That’s how much confidence he has in our engines.”Immelt, the son of a retired GE worker, was clearly glad to hear such a report from the battlefield. After all, the future of GE in Lynn will depend far more on military contracts than commercial engine deals, he said during an interview later with The Daily Item.Although orders for more military engines could slow down, the market for replacement parts will remain strong, but commercial aviation will go through a tough cycle, he said. GE’s presence in Lynn will also be affected by the Pentagon’s efforts to secure continued funding for the Joint Strike Fighter – a warplane that could be used by all the U.S. armed services. “That has a big impact on this facility,” he said.The production of wind turbines could also prove a boon for the company as renewable energy projects sweep the nation, many of them subsidized by government grants. However, many of the developers are currently stalled by an inability to obtain financing. Immelt is intrigued by the government’s possible creation of an energy bank in which companies are required to have a certain percentage of renewable energy investments in their portfolios.”None of us can control the global economy,” said Immelt, adding that GE must continue to invest in leading-edge technology to ensure its survival. “From the worker’s standpoint, you’ve got to want to compete and to win.”GE workers in the U.S. must be willing to go “toe-to-toe” with their colleagues abroad, he said.Immelt praised President Barack Obama for moving quickly and aggressively to halt the downward spin of the U.S. economy. “The government has moved with unbelievable power to fix the banking system,” he said.According to Immelt, once the avenues of credit are reopened and the money invested, the economy will stabilize, but the results will not be immediately apparent.”This is more than a cycle, it’s a fundamental re-set,” he said, opining that the U.S. economy of the future isn’t likely to resemble the one of past decades.Asked about corporate bailouts and astronomical executive bonuses, Immelt – who defines himself as a globalist in terms of the world’s economy – said he supports the